Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/381

Rh 1534 (see the chapter on Formedon). Coke's elaborate commentary upon it testifies to the position which it held in his day. He himself evidently regarded it with a reverence bordering on superstition. ‘The most perfect and absolute work,’ he calls it, ‘that ever was written in any human science,’ an extravagance of eulogy provoked and excused by the absurd and ignorant censure of the civilian, Francis Hotman (see, Inst. pt. i. Pref. and Rep. pt. x. Pref.) Littleton's text with Coke's comment long remained the principal authority on English real property law. Both, however, have now become almost entirely obsolete, and, though still occasionally cited in the courts, are chiefly valuable to the historian and the antiquary. The historical importance of the ‘Tenures’ was early appreciated by the Norman lawyer, Houard, who translated the work into modern French under the title ‘Anciennes Loix des François conservées dans les coutumes Angloises recueillies par Littleton,’ Rouen, 1766, 2 vols. 4to; 2nd ed. 1779. From the omission of certain minor tenures and all reference to cases of a later date than 1474–5, Coke inferred that Littleton left the work unfinished at that date. On the other hand the earliest extant manuscript of the ‘Tenures,’ Mm. v. 2, in the Cambridge University Library, contains internal evidence of having been in circulation in 1480.

The editio princeps of the ‘Tenures’ is a folio published at London by Lettou and Machlinia, but without date or title. The rudeness of the black letter and the free use made of abbreviations point to a very early date, but that of 1481 assigned by Conyers Middleton in his ‘Dissertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England’ is wholly conjectural. Another folio edition, also without date or title, published at London by Machlinia alone, has fewer abbreviations and more regular type. Copies of both these editions are in the British Museum. There are also two folio editions by Pynson without date or title, one printed by William Le Tailleur at Rouen, and conjecturally assigned to 1495, the other, probably of later date, published at London, together with the ‘Olde Tenures,’ and adorned with an engraved frontispiece representing Henry VII and his court. The same frontispiece, with the title ‘Leteltun Teners new Correcte,’ is found in another undated folio edition, also by Pynson. The first edition, with both date and title, is ‘Leteltun Tenuris new Correcte,’ London, Pynson, 1516, fol. This was followed by ‘Lytylton Tenures newly and moost truly Correctyd and Amendyd’ (with the ‘Olde Tenures’ and ‘Natura Brevium’), London, Pynson, 1525, 16mo; 1528, 16mo and 24mo; reprint by Rastell, 1534, 8vo. These editions are all in Gothic type. Two editions in Roman type were published by Redman with the title ‘Les Tenures de Lyttelton novelment Imprimes et ovesque toute diligence Revises, Coriges, et Amendes: et ensement ove plusours authoriteis annotes et marques en le marge de cest liver ou mesme les cases sount overtement debattus et purparles pluis a large,’ London, 12mo and fol. Both are of uncertain date, but the 12mo seems to be referred to in the address to the reader appended to Pynson's 1525 edition. Another, also by Redman, with the title ‘Lytylton Tenures newly Imprinted,’ is assigned by Herbert (Typ. Antiq. ed. 1790, iii. 1787) to 1540 (32mo). Other black-letter editions appeared in London in 1530, 1545, and 1553, and were followed by ‘Lyttylton Tenures newly Revised and truly Corrected, with a Table after the alphabete to finde out briefely the Cases desired in the same,’ London, Tottell, 1554, 8vo; ‘Litleton's Tenures. Conferred with divers true wrytten copies, and purged of sondry cases, having in some places more than ye autour wrote and lesse in other some,’ London, Tottell, 1557, 8vo; ‘Les Tenures du Monsieur Littleton ovesque certein cases addes per auters de puisne temps,’ &c., London, Tottell, 1567, 8vo (the ‘certein cases’ are those omitted from the preceding edition), 1572 8vo, 1577 and 1579 16mo, 1581 8vo (ed. William West [q. v.], author of the ‘Symboleography,’ who for the first time divided the text into numbered sections), 1583 8vo, 1588 4to (a copy of this edition, with manuscript notes attributed to Lord Clarendon, is in Lincoln's Inn Library), and 1591 4to; Yetsweirt, 1594, 12mo (in this edition, which is described on the title-page as ‘Revieu et Change en lordre des Sections,’ an attempt was made to improve on West's distribution of the text); Wight and Bonham Norton, 1599, 12mo (described as ‘Revieu et Corrige en divers Lieux’); Wight, 1604, 4to (a reprint of West's edition); Stationers' Company, 1608, 1612, 1617 (all 12mo reprints of West's edition). Another edition was published by the assigns of John More, London, 1639, 12mo.

The following are the principal black-letter English versions: ‘Lyttilton Tenures truely translated into Englysshe,’ London, Berthelet 1538, Powell 1548, Marshe 1556, all 8vo; ‘Lyttelton Tenures in Englysshe,’ London, Petyt (no date), 8vo, Tottell, 1556 16mo and 1586 8vo; ‘Littleton's Tenures in English. Lately Perused and Amended,’ London, 1594 and 1597 8vo, 1604 12mo, 1612, 1621, 1627, and 1656, all 8vo. In Roman type are: ‘Littleton's Tenures in French and English,’